Mokokoma Mokhonoana || Graphic designer

Mokokoma Mokhonoana || Graphic designer » Critiques http://mokokoma.co.za Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:13:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The invisibility of design – Ideal design http://mokokoma.co.za/the-invisibility-of-design-ideal-design/ http://mokokoma.co.za/the-invisibility-of-design-ideal-design/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:57:13 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=4350

Lebogang Nkoane pointed me to this writing by Alex on Retinart, and he asked me what my thoughts are on the statement (from the writing) below:

“The design just carries the message, rather than attempt to be the message.”

I have had a writing in my drafts for past three months or so, it focuses on the invisibility of good design but I’ll try to marry that with the line that Lebogang’s question is based on. Here it goes:

When two people in different geographic locations wants to communicate, they’d be in need of a tool or medium that will allow them to exchange information, news or ideas. Be it a telephone, a mobile phone, a letter and so forth.

In a situation where a man calls his wife who is on the other side of town, through a telephone, just to say “I love you.” For the man, the sender, the most important thing is for the message to reach the wife, the receiver.

As important and valuable as the telephone is, the most important thing in this scenario is the message, “I love you.” The telephone is merely used to transmit the message. Throughout the phone call, the spotlight will be on the message, not the telephone itself.

When talking over the phone, have you realized how the phone is forgotten and the conversation takes center stage? When reading a letter, have you realized how the words takes all your attention that you hardly see the paper the words are written or printed on? When watching a movie, do you realize how at some stage you fail to notice whatever you’re using to watch the movie, be it a TV, computer or even an ipod — as you would be drawn into the movie itself?

Bad design gets in the way of the communication process.

It’s due to that that designer’s go wild in an attempt to let their masterpieces get the attention they believe it deserves. But good design goes unnoticed (by ‘design’) as it lets its master, content + message, get the spotlight.

Design is too broad for me to make an objective argument, so I’ll stick to design in the context of CD covers from here on.

Like I always assert, there needs to be a function to be realized for form to justify its existence. Thus, the CD cover is brought to being primarily as an identification tool, and in almost all cases the designer will go a step further and then try to communicate, say, the theme of the album through the very same arrangement of visuals (read: design) — which is a beautiful thing but it rarely ‘kills’ the album if it’s not done.

It goes without saying – the statement I just made opens room for an argument within an argument:

“Is anything presented by design a message?”

Is the artist’s name, album’s title and their portrait a message, simply because they’re presented by design?

A designer either uses the visual arrangements of a layout to present, or to communicate a message. Either way design, in the context of things like CD covers, is the message.

But it’s only when the layout affects what its contents communicate can we declare design and the message as one.

When you drink tea, you don’t necessarily think, “Oh, I’m drinking hot water, sugar, milk and crushed leaves.” As you see them as you should, a collective. The same applies when a viewer consumes a design. They don’t see; an album’s title, the artist’s name and their portrait. They see a CD cover.

In some cases it’s the photography that carries the intended message. Now the question is; “do we give credit to the photographer, or the designer ‘cos they arranged where and how the photograph is placed?” If the message is communicated by the typography, where does the credit go? The designer or typographer?

The end product is one, therefore, the message and the design are one. It’s only when the design has failed does a viewer separate the design from the message.

The design is the only way the viewer consumes the message. They see design as a collective. Likewise, when having a good cup of tea, a person sees a cup of tea — and not hot water, sugar, milk, and a tea bag.

And that’s what a good design should be, a thing – and not things.

*Lebogang: Thanks for pointing me out to such an insightful read. Alexendra: thank you for such an inspiring and well-researched writing.

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/the-invisibility-of-design-ideal-design/feed/ 2 The art of critiquing a graphic designer http://mokokoma.co.za/the-art-of-critiquing-a-graphic-designer/ http://mokokoma.co.za/the-art-of-critiquing-a-graphic-designer/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:53:11 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=4273

criticism is for he weak sticker photograph by andria lauren

I usually get emails from other designers, mostly students, with nothing but an attachment of their design, and the question: “What do yo think?”

(And inevitably, that inspired this writing.)

I always assert that Form follows Function, and my argument is quite simple. I say that there needs to be a Function to be realized for Form to justify its existence.

There needs to be, say, a visual brand identity to build associations around a brand, for a logo to justify its existence.

For that reason, design should be a process, and product that is led by intent.

Like with most artistic fields, graphic designers are not immune to critics (and their produce – criticism). But, depending on how it is carried out, criticism can actually be beneficial to the critiqued.

As subjective as design is, I believe there are some aspects of a design that are not subject to subjectivity.

For example, as much as two people might have a love/hate take on a design — things like the illegibility of the design’s copy is not justifiable.

Nonetheless, a technically flawless design doesn’t necessarily equate to an effective design.

If you were asked to put a sign that directs traffic to the left, and you put a sign with the words “turn right” — technically (spelling, legibility of “turn right”, etc.) you might be right, but intent-wise, the correctly-spelled-cool-sign will be fruitless.

A sprinter who runs the fastest, but in the wrong direction, is a loser. He just gets the privilege of knowing that, the earliest.

I love sharing my take on other people’s work, but only when I have an objective (and hopefully constructive) opinion regarding the work.

But how does one objectively critique a design whose intent is unknown to he who is expected to critique?

Most of the time, we as graphic designers, showcase work without documenting the brief, or the design’s intent or desired goal.

In such cases, a graphic designer’s work is judged and critiqued on nothing but its aesthetics. Critiquing work by its appearance, without being aware of what the intent was, is sort of pointless.

If a student answers “Twenty-eight”, how logical is your judgement of the answer if you’re not aware of the question to that answer?

Apart from inspecting the spelling of “twenty-eight” what’s there to comment on? The kerning? Or the colour of their crayon?

That’s like a designer showcasing nothing but:

grey square shape

Isn’t it useless to judge such a design if its intent isn’t provided?

But if the design is accompanied by something like:

“I was required to draw a shape with three equal sides, and colour it with the equal mixture of black and white.”

shapes blue circle green square grey octagon

shapes blue circle green square grey octagon

By looking at the intent, instruction, or brief that the designer was trying to answer to, it is easy for the critique to objectively remark:

“While your three design options (above) are neat, clean, cool, and dope, you’ve have failed the test of intent.”

But if the designer answers the same brief with:

Whether the critique hates the colour grey, or has “beef” with triangles, it matters not. As, objectively speaking, the designer has succeeded in answering the brief.

Only after making a habit of including the brief (read: intent) behind the work showcased, can we allow fellow colleagues to share objective opinions of our work.

The result? Meaningful feedback that will build the critiqued.

If you decide to ask another person:

“What do you think of my answer of ‘six’?”

can you at least include the question:

“What is five multiplied by one?”

So they are able to objectively tell you that, while you’re spelling (technicality) for ‘six’ is correct — the answer (intent) isn’t (fulfilled).

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/the-art-of-critiquing-a-graphic-designer/feed/ 1 Consumers’ familiarity with the old, the barrier to a logo redesign http://mokokoma.co.za/consumers-familiarity-with-the-old-the-barrier-to-a-logo-redesign/ http://mokokoma.co.za/consumers-familiarity-with-the-old-the-barrier-to-a-logo-redesign/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:38:24 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=3289

At times, at the root of a logo is an identity that is meant to capture what the company is about and sometimes what it aspires to be.

With the passage of time, companies change, be it in size, management, philosophy, offerings et cetera and in most cases a brand visual identity redesign is required to ensure that the logo is in sync with the current state of the company.

That brings the one word that terrifies most businesses to mind, change. The fear of the unknown kills a lot of great could-have-been redesigns.

Henry Ford II hired Paul Rand to rethink and modernize the familiar scripted oval Ford logo but eventually he decided not to change the logo.

Above is the logo that Paul Rand proposed as a redesign of the one that, though modified a bit, is still used till this day.

The first thing that one notices is that the proposed logo took its ‘looks’ from the logo it was meant to succeed.

I think Paul Rand was successful in making a ‘smooth’ transition between the then current and his proposed logo whilst sticking to the brief.

Not that a logo must illustrate what the company does, but, Paul Rand’s proposed logo design brilliantly captured ‘motion’ and ‘wheels’ amongst other things.

Apparently, one of the reasons Henry Ford II decided to stick to the old logo was that, what was good enough for his grandfather was good enough for him.

Fair argument? I think so, not.

I’d estimate an equal number of comments of people that are for versus those that are against Paul Rand’s proposed logo redesign that I’ve seen online, which sort of reminds one as to how subjective design is.

Just like with other (re)brands, a logo redesign seldom gets a thumbs up from everybody.

Was the proposed logo a victim of the familiarity factor enjoyed by the current logo or is the older logo simply the best design solution of the two?

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/consumers-familiarity-with-the-old-the-barrier-to-a-logo-redesign/feed/ 0 Is mentioning “terms and conditions apply” a waste of ad space? http://mokokoma.co.za/is-mentioning-terms-and-conditions-apply-a-waste-of-ad-space/ http://mokokoma.co.za/is-mentioning-terms-and-conditions-apply-a-waste-of-ad-space/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 07:14:20 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=2087

I’m not really sure if this is a South African advertising phenomenon, radio to be exact, so for the sake of not ranting about some countries I’m not sure of I’ll stick to South Africa.

It’s a no-brainer that entities such as TV Channels and Radio stations depend on advertising for most part of their income. So, as one would expect, watching TV or listening to radio means you will be fed with adverts — there’s hardly 10 minutes of broadcasting, without not being sold something.

All radio ads I’ve been fed so far have one thing in common, their punch line is exactly the same:

“…terms and conditions apply.”

I’m fully aware that advertisers are obliged to include that line at the end of their ads — bodies like The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) comes to minds. They actually state that:

Advertisements shall state that conditions apply.

I’d like to excuse TV adverts as they usually, though in tiny print, state that terms and conditions do apply plus state the terms and conditions that applies.

If you’re going to tell listeners that terms and conditions apply but say nothing about the terms and conditions, what value does value does that last two seconds add to us the listeners?

One second makes a huge difference to the structure of the ad and what the advertisers are charged.

Do consumers really need to be fed ‘terms and conditions apply’ all the time?

Obliging to this line means advertisers forfeit 6.66% of their ad space, on a 30 seconds ad. That’s money on a phrase that is already tattooed at the back of our minds before we even consume the ads.

Let’s follow Entrepreneur Magazine’s advice on radio ads, and use their frequency ‘suggestions’ for my calculations.

But don’t run a schedule with fewer than 18 commercials in one week. Preferably opt for 24 or more. And don’t advertise for one or two weeks and then stop. People need time to get used to hearing your business name, particularly if you’re new, and then they need to hear what your business is all about. [via Entrepreneur Mag]

Rough calculation*

Let’s just say, a 30 seconds ad cost R 30,000 every time it is broadcasted.

R 30,000 / 30 sec. = R 1,000 per second.

Now let’s minus 2 sec. (dedicated to “terms and conditions apply”) = 28 sec.

It will cost advertisers R 2,000 to tell consumers what they already know and expect, every time an ad is aired.

If we take Entrepreneur’s suggestion of 24 or more per week, for four weeks.

R 30,000 x 24 = R 720,000 per week

x 4 weeks = R 2,880,000 per month

Approximately 6.66% or R 191,808 paid belongs to “terms and conditions apply”, not the advertiser’s message!

*Maths wasn’t my forte at high school.

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/is-mentioning-terms-and-conditions-apply-a-waste-of-ad-space/feed/ 3 iBurst, an internet service provider fails to make use of the internet! http://mokokoma.co.za/iburst-an-internet-service-provider-fails-to-make-use-of-the-internet/ http://mokokoma.co.za/iburst-an-internet-service-provider-fails-to-make-use-of-the-internet/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:26:23 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=833

I think iBurst is taking a typical ‘government mentality’ approach towards building their brand, a mentality where the public or rather customers in their case are attempted to be pleased with numbers instead of quality.

As an iBurst customer, there are only two types of emails I get from them; invoices and newsletters telling me how much they’re growing, stating the number of new areas that they now cover. The number of new base stations adds no real value to most existing clients, a better customer service would be a great start!

There are a lot of iBurst clients who are unhappy with their service and more importantly their support system. On average an unhappy client will contact their service provider for support first and if their complaint is not solved or attended to that’s when a client’s frustration gives birth to ‘bad mouthing’, an action that could paralyze a brand.

Social media created opportunities that enable companies to know their customers’ needs, expectations and frustrations better.

iBurst seems to have ignored this phenomenon!

Let’s take Twitter for example; my guess is that the number of iBurst subscribers who uses twitter aren’t more than those who don’t. But I believe those on twitter might consume more bandwidth as there’s usually a lot of ‘links sharing’ that accompanies most twitters’ status updates. Which would make them one of iBurst’s top consumers (pun intended).

Now let me do some work for iBurst! I searched ‘iburst’ on twitter status updates and this is the type of consumer remarks you’ll find:

A friend made the following status update through twitter, which automatically updated his Facebook status via TwitterSync (bad mouthing reaches more audience):

Word of mouth is two-fold; a consumer can either refer their friends to a brand or warn them to stay far away from a brand as possible. Which of the two sides a brand falls under depended purely on the customer’s level of satisfaction with a brand’s product or service!

Consumers tend to trust their friends’ referral to a brand more than company’s brand promise:

iBurst is losing a lot of existing and potential customers to their competition:

What iBurst doesn’t realize is that while their marketing efforts might them bring more clients, their lack of support is chasing existing clients away. And apart from the cost of acquiring new clients being more expensive than keeping existing ones, their brand’s image is suffering from what will be hard and maybe impossible to erase from consumers’ minds, a place where a brand resides!

Unfortunately for iBurst, its competitors are ‘social media’ literate. Below is a good example of a competitor utilizing social media:

The opportunity:

The reaction:

The capture:

And the result:

Not only did iBurst lose a customer in the above case, their competitor also got free publicity plus referrals.

How does an internet provider fail to utilize the internet?

I have never heard of a chef die of starvation!

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/iburst-an-internet-service-provider-fails-to-make-use-of-the-internet/feed/ 9 Website intro pages, the good and the unnecessary! http://mokokoma.co.za/website-intro-pages-the-good-and-the-unnecessary/ http://mokokoma.co.za/website-intro-pages-the-good-and-the-unnecessary/#comments Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:42:39 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=541

…sometimes we don’t really need the introduction.

In my previous post on website sins I focused on some sites’ lack of a web analytics feature and in this second post to the series the discussion will be on website intro pages both the good and the not so necessary.

The main challenge in achieving simplicity is that it forces logic behind every element that you plan on adding to an interface, the frequent question to oneself as a designer being “what value does this element add to the end-user?”

This is a question that should be applied to design in general, you don’t have to have a minimal approach to design but why have something that it’s absence or presence makes no difference to the design’s overall purpose and intentions?. Aesthetics? well, that’s a valid argument. But not in all cases.

Some designers have a habit of creating intro pages where the user is supposed to click “enter” to enter the website.

This puts your logo in the visitor’s face, it embeds your logo in their minds and they’ll never forget your brand, right? Nonsense!

An average visitor will get to your website because they intentionally wanted to, then why ask the user if they’d like to ‘enter’ your website?

That’s bad web design practice, an unnecessary click.

When backed with a logical reason behind intro pages can actually add enormous value by enhancing visitors’ browsing.

The three most popular correct usage of intro pages is to bless the users with choice of preferred language, html or flash version of the website and option to directly browse sections of the website that interests the visitor.

Below is three examples of intro pages showcasing the above correct usage:

Giorgio Armani

The above intro’s purpose is to give users an option to choose a language of their preference.

Damien du Toit

Here visitors are given the different sections of the website, and a choice to select those that are of interest to them without having to browse through every part of the site. The intro page also displays 10 most recent post from the blog, which is convenient for Damien’s blog followers.

Reggie Legoale

On fully flash based websites an intro page can be used to offer an option to download a flash player, specify technological requirements or to simply buy patience.

What’s your take on ‘click here to enter’ intro pages, especially on sites that publishes new content frequently?

Doesn’t it annoy regular visitors to go through the same intro over and over again? Or should visitors just type the directory to the section that gets new content (e.g domain.com/news)?

Links to sites that practices both the good and the unnecessary usage of intro pages will be appreciated, do share.

Random Posts

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/website-intro-pages-the-good-and-the-unnecessary/feed/ 1 Common website design sin, the lack of web analytics http://mokokoma.co.za/common-website-design-sins-1/ http://mokokoma.co.za/common-website-design-sins-1/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:17:01 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=448

There is a lot of common website design mistakes made by web designers, I will dedicate a post to each mistake that I’d like to address.

The first ‘sin’ for this series is the most simple to implement but quite an often overlooked feature, especially by ‘newbie’ web designers. This is web analytics, or rather a lack of such a feature.

Web analytics is the study of the behavior of website visitors, in order to improve it. An analysis of the usage patters of a company’s website with the goal of better understanding customer behavior as well as identifying strengths and weakness of the company’s current online offerings.

This may include understanding how many people are visiting a web site, what are the most popular pages, what are the most popular paths, where are people coming from, where do they drop off, how long do they stay, etc.

In a commercial context, web analytics especially refers to the use of data collected from a web site to determine which aspects of the website work towards the business objectives; for example, which landing pages encourage people to make a purchase.

Although this isn’t really design related but it’s a very crucial feature that makes or break a website. No matter how well a website might be designed, it’s a recipe for failure if one cannot measure the website’s performance and effectiveness.

Web analytics is one of the most important features as it allows a web designers to make any necessary changes to a website to adopt to needs and take advantage of visitors’ browsing patterns.

There are many reliable web analytics providers, and most are free of charge. The two that I use are reinvigorate and Google Analytics. It only takes two steps to add the feature to a website, register with a web analytics service provide of your choice, and simply copy+paste the code that they provide you with to all web pages that you’d like to monitor, preferably all pages.

“You can’t control what you can’t measure” – Tom DeMarco

Reports of the website usage must be compiled on regular basis, to measure marketing efforts effectiveness and to highlight areas to amend to improve user experience.

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/common-website-design-sins-1/feed/ 2 IEC website punishes its visitors for NOT using ancient technology! http://mokokoma.co.za/iec-website-punishes-its-visitors-for-not-using-ancient-technology/ http://mokokoma.co.za/iec-website-punishes-its-visitors-for-not-using-ancient-technology/#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:39:13 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=364

I wrote about something similar regarding sabc one’s website, but this time I stumbled upon a worse situation.

Firstly, let me start by educating those of you who aren’t website developers. There’s a traditional web design strategy called progressive enhancement, simply put:

a website must be developed in such a way that all users are able to access basic content and functionality of a web page regardless of their browser or internet connection.

IEC’s website is however doing the opposite which is quite disturbing. I get this message while trying to access their website on FireFox 3 on a Leopard OS (Mac):

Our server detected that you are using a browser or operating system (e.g. Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.) which is currently incompatible with our website. The current website is only compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 (and upward) on the Windows operating system.

I always find it disturbing for organizations which can afford professional services but somehow decide not to invest in one.

The other issue that I believe contributes to situation like this is the fact that people tend to make website development a once-off thing, once live websites still need to be monitored and maintained… it doesn’t necessarily have to be updating of new content only – the website (developers) should take advantage and benefit from newly available technologies, that emerged after the site was launched.

The last part of the error on IEC’s website (shown to us visitors who does not ‘meet’ their site’s technological requirements) states that the site is currently under construction to rectify the situation.

We sit and wait hope.

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Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/iec-website-punishes-its-visitors-for-not-using-ancient-technology/feed/ 8 What would have made the ‘perfect’ Pick ‘n Pay logo redesign? http://mokokoma.co.za/what-would-have-made-the-perfect-pick-n-pay-logo-redesign/ http://mokokoma.co.za/what-would-have-made-the-perfect-pick-n-pay-logo-redesign/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:37:21 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=193

Let’s face it, logo redesign is without any doubt one of the most challenging element of rebranding. The question is, what does the redesign need to be to be regarded an improvement of the prior design? It has been a couple of months since Pick n Pay has rebranded, and as you’d expect not everybody was happy with their new look while a few approved the redesign.

I know that some people have rejected the new logo simply based on the fact that everybody was used to the old logo, hence I only published this article a few months after we’ve all absorbed the new logo.

I’d like to know if there’s any people out there who didn’t like the logo at first but are now ok with it.

Bizcommunity ran a poll on whether people liked the new logo design or not and more than 52% of the people who voted don’t like the logo, 32% said they liked it while just over 15% weren’t sure whether they liked the new look.

Did the ‘familiarity’ factor play any role in the judgment of the redesign? If the new logo was their initial and the old was a redesign of the new one would it be tagged as successful rebranding? Confusing? ok, let me try this in English…

If we swap the two logos and pretend the new logo was initial design and the old logo was its redesign:

What would your take then be? Would it qualify as an improvement in your books?

While I totally agree on some logo design principles or rather lack of on the new logo that made a lot of people disapprove the new logo, apart customers being attached to the old logo – in terms of design what was so good about the old logo?

Related Writings:

]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/what-would-have-made-the-perfect-pick-n-pay-logo-redesign/feed/ 13 My views on facebook’s advertising model http://mokokoma.co.za/my-views-on-facebooks-advertising-model/ http://mokokoma.co.za/my-views-on-facebooks-advertising-model/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:56:49 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=100

Mark Zuckerberg and the crew behind Facebook has just launched their redesigned users’ profile layout. One thing for sure is that loyal users will definitely need some time to ‘digest’ and get used to the new layout. In this post my focus is more on Facebook’s ad system and a bit on the new layout.

My guess is that one of the reasons they decided to redesign was to maximize their advertising revenue, as one of the first changes one sees is that the new layout has more ads in more places than the prior design.

The common mistake people who aims to make money from their website make is that they always try to incorporate an advertising model/space after the site has been up and running. Ad space/model should be included in the ‘prototyping’ phase before the actual site is designed… it will be better than having to change the layout later just to accommodate advertising when users are already familiar with the existing interface.

With all users’ personal information Facebook has, I think their advertising’s relevance is quite disappointing, couldn’t they use a more targeting ad system? Yes I’m in South Africa but that doesn’t mean all ads from SA companies appeals to me!

Geo-Targeting alone won’t make facebook’s ads reach their potential!

Facebook currently uses age, sex, location, workplace, and relationship status to target users. I believe things like a user’s ‘activities’ can also be of value in terms of filtering ads, if Alfred likes mountain hiking – hiking gear would definitely appeal to him. The user’s ‘Favourite books’ section can also be taken further, as the author’s other books can surely be of interest to the user.

I think most ad models fail to reach the site’s potential because the advertiser doesn’t make the ad’s relevance to the user a priority, they instead get obsessed with how the ad looks and how many ads the user is exposed to.

As a user I’d rather have an irritating and not so good looking ad that appeals to me rather than nice looking ad of a ‘Stop snoring now’ offer.

When I decide to click to view my friends’ photos on FB, all I want to see is pictures of my friends, not some advert asking me: ‘Are you moving to London’ – no thanks, I’m happy with my country and its flaws.

And how does an advertiser get the nerve to ask the users if they’d like to see more adverts? This is like saying [below a billboard], now that you’ve seen this billboard, go 4 streets up, turn left and go 2 blocks up and you’ll find another billboard!

Users use FB to interact with their buddies, they don’t go there looking for ads! So ads should be placed with caution.

Facebook fails at segmenting their users further so companies that advertises on it gets a more user targeted and efficient deal.

A perfect example of a company that excels with it’s online ad model, I’d say is Google, everybody visits Google with the same goal – to search. The reason Google’s ad system is a success is that their ads are in a way what the user is looking for, let’s say you search for ‘laptops’, you’ll be given search results on your ‘query’ plus ads of companies selling laptops in your country/area. Google offers advertising that ‘captures’ people while they’re interested.

What matters should not be the millions of users exposed to an ad but rather the number of users that find the ad appealing. If placed properly an advert could be the second best thing [ after the actual content ] that an advertiser could give the user.

FB has all the info it needs to show ads appealing to users individually, as most of it’s content is user-generated.

I believe facebook’s ad model can be made more efficient to increase their revenue and more importantly show ads that add value to a user’s ‘facebooking’ experience.

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Related Writings:

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